Determining appliance insurance coverage/products using informatic sensor data

ABSTRACT

A computer device and method for processing risk related data to determine one or more insurance products for appliances and other systems located in or on an insured property. Informatic data is received from one or more informatic sensor devices relating to one or more appliances located in or on an insured property. Analysis is performed on the received informatic data to determine one or more insurance products to be recommended for at least one appliance located in or on the insured property. Notification is provided regarding determination of the one or more insurance products for the at least one appliance located in or on the insured property.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/324,759, filed on Jul. 7, 2014, which claimspriority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. Nos. 61/926,093 filed Jan. 10,2014; 61/926,091 filed Jan. 10, 2014; 61/926,095 filed Jan. 10, 2014;61/926,098 filed Jan. 10, 2014; 61/926,103 filed Jan. 10, 2014;61/926,108 filed Jan. 10, 2014; 61/926,111 filed Jan. 10, 2014;61/926,114 filed Jan. 10, 2014; 61/926,118 filed Jan. 10, 2014;61/926,119 filed Jan. 10, 2014; 61/926,121 filed Jan. 10, 2014;61/926,123 filed Jan. 10, 2014; 61/926,536 filed Jan. 13, 2014;61/926,541 filed Jan. 13, 2014; 61/926,534 filed Jan. 13, 2014;61/926,532 filed Jan. 13, 2014; 61/943,897 filed Feb. 24, 2014;61/943,901 filed Feb. 24, 2014; 61/943,906 filed Feb. 24, 2014; and61/948,192 filed Mar. 5, 2014 which are each incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed embodiments generally relate to a method and computerizedsystem for managing insurance and related products and services, andmore particularly, to using data captured from an insured property fordetermining appliance insurance products.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Smart house functionality is a maturing space, but the opportunity forinsurance companies remains largely untapped. Thus, the terms ofinsurance policies, such as homeowner insurance policies, may not bereflective of the true nature of the risks being insured.

Accordingly, there is an unmet need for measuring information relatingto an insured risk, such as a residence or structures located on theresidence premises, and utilizing that information to make appropriatemodifications to insurance policy terms, such as the deductible amount.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose and advantages of the below described illustratedembodiments will be set forth in and apparent from the description thatfollows. Additional advantages of the illustrated embodiments will berealized and attained by the devices, systems and methods particularlypointed out in the written description and claims hereof, as well asfrom the appended drawings. To achieve these and other advantages and inaccordance with the purpose of the illustrated embodiments, in oneaspect, described is a computer device and method for processing riskrelated data to determine one or more insurance products for appliancesand other systems located in an insured property. Informatic data isreceived from one or more informatic sensor devices relating to one ormore appliances and/or systems located in an insured property. Analysisis performed on the received informatic data to determine one or moreinsurance products to be recommended for at least one appliance and/orsystem located in the insured property. Notification is providedregarding determination of the one or more insurance products for the atleast one appliance and/or system located in the insured property.

In another aspect, an insurance policy is received that is associatedwith the insured property, which is the analyzed to determine if the oneor more appliances and/or system located in the insured property arecovered by the insurance policy. Analysis is then performed on thereceived informatic data to determine one or more insurance productsproviding insurance coverage for one or more appliances and/or systemslocated in the insured property, which insurance coverage is determinednot to be provided by the analyzed insurance policy.

This summary section is provided to introduce a selection of concepts ina simplified form that are further described subsequently in thedetailed description section. This summary section is not intended toidentify key features or essential features of the claimed subjectmatter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimedsubject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying appendices and/or drawings illustrate variousnon-limiting, example, inventive aspects in accordance with the presentdisclosure:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in accordance withan illustrated embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a network computer device/node in accordance with anillustrated embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a plurality of appliances located inside orin the vicinity of an insured property from which sensor data iscaptured for subsequent analysis in accordance with an illustratedembodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of operational steps of the appliance analyzermodule of FIG. 3 in accordance with an illustrated embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

The illustrated embodiments are now described more fully with referenceto the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals identifysimilar structural/functional features. The illustrated embodiments arenot limited in any way to what is illustrated as the illustratedembodiments described below are merely exemplary, which can be embodiedin various forms, as appreciated by one skilled in the art. Therefore,it is to be understood that any structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as abasis for the claims and as a representation for teaching one skilled inthe art to variously employ the discussed embodiments. Furthermore, theterms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but ratherto provide an understandable description of the illustrated embodiments.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also beused in the practice or testing of the illustrated embodiments,exemplary methods and materials are now described. All publicationsmentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference to disclose anddescribe the methods and/or materials in connection with which thepublications are cited.

It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, thesingular forms “a”, “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “astimulus” includes a plurality of such stimuli and reference to “thesignal” includes reference to one or more signals and equivalentsthereof known to those skilled in the art, and so forth.

It is to be appreciated the illustrated embodiments discussed below arepreferably a software algorithm, program or code residing on computeruseable medium having control logic for enabling execution on a machinehaving a computer processor. The machine typically includes memorystorage configured to provide output from execution of the computeralgorithm or program.

As used herein, the term “software” is meant to be synonymous with anycode or program that can be in a processor of a host computer,regardless of whether the implementation is in hardware, firmware or asa software computer product available on a disc, a memory storagedevice, or for download from a remote machine. The embodiments describedherein include such software to implement the equations, relationshipsand algorithms described above. One skilled in the art will appreciatefurther features and advantages of the illustrated embodiments based onthe above-described embodiments. Accordingly, the illustratedembodiments are not to be limited by what has been particularly shownand described, except as indicated by the appended claims. Allpublications and references cited herein are expressly incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety. For instance, commonly assignedU.S. Pat. Nos. 8,289,160 and 8,400,299 are related to certainembodiments described here and are each incorporated herein by referencein their entirety.

As used herein, the term “insurance policy” refers to a contract betweenan insurer, also known as an insurance company, and an insured, alsoknown as a policyholder, in which the insurer agrees to indemnify theinsured for specified losses, costs, or damage on specified terms andconditions in exchange of a certain premium amount paid by the insured.In a typical situation, when the insured suffers some loss for whichhe/she may have insurance the insured makes an insurance claim torequest payment for the loss. It is to be appreciated for the purpose ofthe embodiments illustrated herein, the insurance policy is not to beunderstood to be limited to a residential or homeowners insurancepolicy, but can be for a commercial, umbrella, and other insurancepolicies known by those skilled in the art.

As also used herein, “insured” may refer to an applicant for a newinsurance policy and/or may refer to an insured under an existinginsurance policy.

As used herein, the term “insurance policy” or “insurance product” mayencompass a warranty or other contract for the repair, service, ormaintenance of insured property.

As used herein, “insured property” means a dwelling, other buildings orstructures, personal property, or business property, as well as thepremises on which these are located, some or all which may be covered byan insurance policy.

Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar referencecharacters denote similar elements throughout the several views, FIG. 1depicts an exemplary communications network 100 in which belowillustrated embodiments may be implemented.

It is to be understood a communication network 100 is a geographicallydistributed collection of nodes interconnected by communication linksand segments for transporting data between end nodes, such as personalcomputers, work stations, smart phone devices, tablets, televisions,sensors and or other devices such as automobiles, etc. Many types ofnetworks are available, with the types ranging from local area networks(LANs) to wide area networks (WANs). LANs typically connect the nodesover dedicated private communications links located in the same generalphysical location, such as a insured property 300 or campus. WANs, onthe other hand, typically connect geographically dispersed nodes overlong-distance communications links, such as common carrier telephonelines, optical lightpaths, synchronous optical networks (SONET),synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) links, or Powerline Communications(PLC), and others.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an example communication network100 illustratively comprising nodes/devices 101-108 (e.g., sensors 102,client computing devices 103, smart phone devices 105, servers 106,routers 107, switches 108 and the like) interconnected by variousmethods of communication. For instance, the links 109 may be wired linksor may comprise a wireless communication medium, where certain nodes arein communication with other nodes, e.g., based on distance, signalstrength, current operational status, location, etc. Moreover, each ofthe devices can communicate data packets (or frames) 142 with otherdevices using predefined network communication protocols as will beappreciated by those skilled in the art, such as various wired protocolsand wireless protocols etc., where appropriate. In this context, aprotocol consists of a set of rules defining how the nodes interact witheach other. Those skilled in the art will understand that any number ofnodes, devices, links, etc. may be used in the computer network, andthat the view shown herein is for simplicity. Also, while theembodiments are shown herein with reference to a general network cloud,the description herein is not so limited, and may be applied to networksthat are hardwired.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, cloud server, or any suitablecombination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, acomputer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an example network computingdevice 200 (e.g., one of network devices 101-108) that may be used (orcomponents thereof) with one or more embodiments described herein, e.g.,as one of the nodes shown in the network 100. As explained above, indifferent embodiments these various devices be configured to communicatewith each other in any suitable way, such as, for example, viacommunication network 100.

Device 200 is only one example of a suitable system and is not intendedto suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality ofembodiments of the invention described herein. Regardless, computingdevice 200 is capable of being implemented and/or performing any of thefunctionality set forth herein.

Computing device 200 is operational with numerous other general purposeor special purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with computing device 200include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, servercomputer systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-held or laptopdevices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set topboxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputersystems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed data processingenvironments that include any of the above systems or devices, and thelike.

Computing device 200 may be described in the general context of computersystem-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executedby a computer system. Generally, program modules may include routines,programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.Computing device 200 may be practiced in distributed data processingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed dataprocessing environment, program modules may be located in both local andremote computer system storage media including memory storage devices.

Device 200 is shown in FIG. 2 in the form of a general-purpose computingdevice. The components of device 200 may include, but are not limitedto, one or more processors or processing units 216, a system memory 228,and a bus 218 that couples various system components including systemmemory 228 to processor 216.

Bus 218 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computing device 200 typically includes a variety of computer systemreadable media. Such media may be any available media that is accessibleby device 200, and it includes both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media.

System memory 228 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 230 and/or cachememory 232. Computing device 200 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 234 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 218 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 228 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 240, having a set (at least one) of program modules 215,such as appliance analyzer module 308 described below, may be stored inmemory 228 by way of example, and not limitation, as well as anoperating system, one or more application programs, other programmodules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one or moreapplication programs, other program modules, and program data or somecombination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 215 generally carry out the functionsand/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as describedherein.

Device 200 may also communicate with one or more external devices 214such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 224, etc.; one or moredevices that enable a user to interact with computing device 200; and/orany devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computingdevice 200 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Suchcommunication can occur via Input/Output (I/O) interfaces 222. Stillyet, device 200 can communicate with one or more networks such as alocal area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or apublic network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 220. Asdepicted, network adapter 220 communicates with the other components ofcomputing device 200 via bus 218. It should be understood that althoughnot shown, other hardware and/or software components could be used inconjunction with device 200. Examples, include, but are not limited to:microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external diskdrive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storagesystems, cloud servers, etc.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are intended to provide a brief, general description of anillustrative and/or suitable exemplary environment in which embodimentsof the below described present invention may be implemented. FIGS. 1 and2 are exemplary of a suitable environment and are not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the structure, scope of use, orfunctionality of an embodiment of the present invention. A particularenvironment should not be interpreted as having any dependency orrequirement relating to any one or combination of components illustratedin an exemplary operating environment. For example, in certaininstances, one or more elements of an environment may be deemed notnecessary and omitted. In other instances, one or more other elementsmay be deemed necessary and added.

With the exemplary communication network 100 (FIG. 1) and computingdevice 200 (FIG. 2) being generally shown and discussed above,description of certain illustrated embodiments of the present inventionwill now be provided. With reference now to FIG. 3, an example of aninsured property 300 is shown which is to be understood to be any typeof insured property structure (e.g., residential, commercial, retail,municipal, etc.) in which the capture and analysis of sensor data isuseful for the reasons at least described below.

Insured property 300 may contain one or more appliances located thereinor in its vicinity. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating suchexemplary appliances from which sensor data is captured for subsequentanalysis, in accordance with an illustrated embodiment. Insured property300 preferably includes a computing device 103 (or centralized virtualprivate server) for capturing data from a plurality of sensors 340. Itis to be understood computing device 103 may be located in any location,and its position is not limited to the example shown. Examples ofappliances depicted in FIG. 3 include (but are not limited to) allkitchen appliances (e.g., refrigerator 330, freezer, stove, cooktop,oven, grill, dishwasher, etc.); HVAC components 332 (air conditioner,heating system, air handlers, humidifiers/de-humidifiers, etc.), waterpurification system 334, media entertainment system 336 (e.g.,televisions), networking components 338 (routers, switches, extenders,etc.), electrical generator system, and the like. In many of theembodiments, appliances 330-338 have a computer based architecture or acontroller that enables communication of data concerning the electronicappliance. It is to be understood insured property appliances 330-338may be located in any location inside or outside of insured property300, and their positions are not limited to the example depicted in FIG.3. In addition, a plurality of appliance sensors 340 may be attached toand/or operatively connected to controllers or centralized hub (and/orother components and/or portions) of appliances 330-338.

Each of the appliance sensors 340 may be configured and operational topreferably detect various operating parameters relating to appliances330-338 within or outside the insured property 300. An appliance sensormay comprise detection hardware, or may employ one or more remoteprobes, which may be located inside and/or outside the insured property300, functional to detect certain operating parameters of appliances330-338. Operating parameters detected by an appliance sensor 340 mayinclude (but are not limited to): the operating efficiency of anappliance (energy usage, output performance); the time an applianceoperates, the age of an appliance. Such appliance readings from one ormore appliances 330-338 could thus be recorded by device 103 and used byan appliance analyzer 308 in various ways. It is additionally to beunderstood and appreciated that appliance sensors 340 can also benetworked into a central computer hub (e.g., device 103) in an insuredproperty or elsewhere to aggregate collected sensor data packets.Computing device 103 may communicate its data to server 106.

Computing device 103 is preferably configured and operational to receive(capture) data from various appliance sensors 340 regarding certainaspects (including functional and operational) of appliances 330-338 andtransmit that captured data to a remote server 106, via network 100. Itis noted device 103 may perform analytics regarding the captured sensordata regarding insured property 330-338 and/or the remote server 106,preferably located or controlled by an insurance company/carrier, mayperform such analytics, as also further described below. It is also tobe understood in other embodiments, data from appliance sensors 340 maybe transmitted directly to remote server 106, via network 100, thuseither obviating the need for computing device 103 or mitigating itsfunctionality to capture all data from appliance sensors 340.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 3, computing device 103 may becoupled to various below described sensor types operative to sense oneor more ambient conditions relevant to the functionality of theplurality of appliances 330-338. It is to be understood and appreciated,in accordance with the embodiments herein, appliance sensors arepreferably installed, and its data is collected, maintained, accessedand otherwise utilized pursuant to the permission of the insured(s) andsubject to appropriate security and privacy protections.

Although various sensor types are described below, the sensor typesdescribed herein are not intended to be exhaustive as embodiments of thepresent invention may encompass any type of known or unknown sensor typewhich facilitates the purposes and objectives of the certain illustratedembodiments described herein. Exemplary sensor types include (but arenot limited to):

Temperature sensor—configured and operational to preferably detect thetemperature present at the insured property 300. For example, thetemperature may rise and fall with the change of seasons and/or the timeof day. Moreover, in the event of a fire, the temperature present at theinsured property 300 may rise quickly—possibly to a level of extremehigh heat. The temperature sensor may make use of probes placed atvarious locations in and around the insured property 300, in order tocollect a representative profile of the temperature present at theinsured property 300. These probes may be connected to device 103 bywire, or by a wireless technology. For example, if device 103 ispositioned in the attic of the insured property 300, the temperature maybe higher than the general temperature present in the insured property.Thus, probes placed at various locations (e.g., in the basement, on thevarious levels of a multi-level insured property 300, in different roomsthat receive different amounts of sun, etc.), in order to obtain anaccurate picture of the temperature present at the insured property.Moreover, device 103 may record both the indoor and outdoor temperaturepresent at the insured property 300. For example, data about the indoortemperature, the outdoor temperature, and/or the differential betweenindoor and outdoor temperatures, may be used as part of some analysismodel, and thus all of the different values could be stored. Device 103may store an abstract representation of temperature (e.g., the averageindoor temperature, as collected at all of the probes), or may storeeach temperature reading individually so that the individual readingsmay be provided as input to an analysis model.Humidity sensor—configured and operational to preferably detect thehumidity present at the insured property 300. Humidity sensor maycomprise the humidity-detection hardware, or may employ one or moreremote probes, which may be located inside and/or outside the insuredproperty 300. Humidity readings from one or more locations inside and/oroutside the insured property could thus be recorded by device 103.Water pressure sensor—configured and operational to preferably monitorwater pressure in the plumbing system in the insured property 300. Waterpressure sensor may have one or more probes attached to variouslocations of the insured property's 300 plumbing, and thus device 103may record the pressure present in the plumbing, and/or any changes inthat pressure. For example, plumbing systems may be designed towithstand a certain amount of pressure, and if the pressure rises abovethat amount, the plumbing system may be at risk for leaking, bursting,or other failure. Thus, device 103 may record the water pressure that ispresent in the plumbing system at various points in time.Water flow sensor—configured and operational to preferably monitor waterflow rate in the plumbing system in the insured property 300. Water flowsensor may have one or more probes attached to various locations of theinsured property's 300 plumbing, such as faucets, showerheads andappliances, and thus water flow sensor 103 may measure and/or record theamount of water flowing through the insured property's 300 water supplysystem. Thus, device 103 may record the water flow that is present inthe plumbing system at various points in time.Electrical system sensor/analyzer configured and operational to assessthe condition of the insured property's 300 electrical system. Forexample, potentiometers may be connected to various points in theinsured property's 300 electrical system to measure voltage. Readingsfrom the potentiometers could be used to determine if the voltage ispersistently too high, or too low, or if the voltage frequently dropsand/or spikes. Such conditions may suggest that the insured property 300is at risk for fire. Other types of electrical measurements could betaken, such as readings of current flowing through the electricalsystem. Still other types of electrical measurements could be determinedinclude how energy is used and at what times of day it is used, etc. Anytype of data about the insured property's 300 electrical system could becaptured by device 103. An analysis model could use the informationabout electrical energy in various ways.

With exemplary sensors identified and briefly described above, and aswill be further discussed below, it is to be generally understoodsensors, including appliance sensors 340, preferably record certain dataparameters relating to products and services provided by an insurancecarrier, such as USAA, to identify and recommend appliance insuranceproducts and other value added services such as those described below.It is to be understood and appreciated the aforementioned appliancesensors 340 may be configured as wired and wireless types integrated ina networked environment (e.g., WAN, LAN, WiFi, 802.11X, 3G, LTE, etc.),which may also have an associated IP address. It is to be furtherappreciated the appliance sensors 340 may consist of internal sensorslocated within the structure of insured property 300; external sensorslocated external of the structure of insured property 300; sound sensorsfor detecting ambient noise (e.g., for detecting termite and rodentactivity, glass breakage, intruders, etc.); camera sensors such as thoseconsisting of camera standalone devices, or by integrating into existingcamera devices in an insured property 300. It is additionally to beunderstood and appreciated that appliance sensors 340 can be networkedinto a central computer hub (e.g., device 103) in an insured property orelsewhere to aggregate collected sensor data packets. Aggregated datapackets can be analyzed in either a computer system (e.g., device 103)or via an external computer environment (e.g., server 106).Additionally, it is to be understood data packets collected fromappliance sensors 340 can be aggregated in computing device 103 and sentas an aggregated packet to server 106 for subsequent analysis wherebydata packets may be transmitted at prescribed time intervals (e.g., abenefit is to reduce cellular charges in that some insured properties300 may not have Internet access or cellular service is backup whenInternet service is nonfunctioning).

In accordance with an illustrated embodiment, in addition to theaforementioned, the appliance sensors 340 being utilized relative toinsured property 300, computing device 103 may additionally be coupledto a Clock 320 which may keep track of time for device 103, therebyallowing a given item of data to be associated with the time at whichthe data was captured. For example, device 103 may recurrently capturereadings of temperature, humidity, appliance operating times, etc., andmay timestamp each reading. The time at which the readings are taken maybe used to reconstruct events or for other analytic purposes, such asthose described below.

A storage component 322 may further be provided and utilized to storedata readings and/or timestamps in device 103. For example, storagecomponent 322 may comprise, or may otherwise make use of, magnetic oroptical disks, volatile random-access memory, non-volatile random-accessmemory, cloud servers, or any other type of storage device. There may besufficient data storage capacity to store several hours or several daysworth of readings.

A communication component 324 may further be provided and utilized tocommunicate recorded information from computing device 103 to anexternal location, such as computer server 106, which may be associatedwith an insurance carrier such as USAA. Communication component 324 maybe, or may comprise, a network communication card such as an Ethernetcard, a WiFi card, or any other communication mechanism. However,communication component 324 could take any form and is not limited tothese examples. Communication component 324 might encrypt data that itcommunicates, in order to protect the security and/or privacy of thedata. Communication component 324 may communicate data recorded bydevice 103 (e.g., data stored in storage component 322) to an externallocation, such as server 106. For example, server 106 may be operated byan insurance company, and may collect data from computing device 103 tolearn about operating conditions, risks, maintenance and repair needsand other analytics relative to appliances 330-338 located in insuredproperty 300. Communication component 324 may initiate communicationsessions with server 106. Or, as another example, server 106 may contactdevice 103, through communication component 324, in order to receivedata that has been stored by device 103. Additionally, data fromappliance sensors 340, clock 320 and/or storage component 322 may becommunicated directly to server 106, via network 100, thus obviating ormitigating the need for computing device 103.

In the example of FIG. 3, communication component 324 (which is shown,in FIG. 3, as being part of, or used by, computing device 103)communicates data to server 106. Server 106 may comprise, or otherwisemay cooperate with, a data analysis module 304, which may analyze datain some manner. Data analysis module 304 may comprise various types ofsub-modules, such as appliance analyzer 308. In general, applianceanalyzer 308 may perform an analysis of collected data regarding variousappliances located in or around insured property 300, such as their age,operating parameters, maintenance/repair issues, and the like.

FIG. 4 shows, in the form of a flow chart, exemplary operational stepsof the appliance analyzer 308. Before turning to description of FIG. 4,it is noted that the flow diagram shown therein is described, by way ofexample, with reference to components shown in FIGS. 1-3, although theseoperational steps may be carried out in any system and are not limitedto the scenario shown in the aforementioned figures. Additionally, theflow diagram in FIG. 4 shows an example in which operational steps arecarried out in a particular order, as indicated by the lines connectingthe blocks, but the various steps shown in this diagram can be performedin any order, or in any combination or sub-combination.

At 402, appliance analyzer 308 preferably collects data from a pluralityof appliance sensors 340 (shown in FIG. 3). Contact between thecomputing device 103 and appliance analyzer 308 may be initiated byeither the appliance analyzer 308 or computing device 103. Following theinitial contact, appliance analyzer 308 may receive data from thecomputing device 103. It is to be understood data packets collected fromappliance sensors 340 can be aggregated in computing device 103 and sentas an aggregated packet to appliance analyzer 308 for subsequentanalysis.

At 404, appliance analyzer 308 preferably processes the received data.For example, appliance analyzer 308 may include a parser configured toparse the aggregated packet and classify the received data based on, forexample, type of appliance corresponding to a particular subset of thereceived data. Appliance analyzer 308 may create a data structure foreach classification. This step may further involve identifying a policyholder associated with insured property 300 in which the analyzedappliances are located.

At 406, appliance analyzer 308 preferably determines the age of theappliances 330-338 or parts thereof and/or length of service of theappliances 330-338 based on data captured from sensors 340. At 408,appliance analyzer 308 preferably analyzes operating parameters withrespect to appliances 330-338. This step may further involve analyzingenvironmental conditions in which appliances 330-338 operate. Forexample, appliance analyzer 308 may use environmental data measured witha plurality of sensors situated at or near the analyzed appliances330-338. The environmental data may be indicative of temperature,humidity, pressure, averages of the foregoing measurements over a timeperiod, etc. More specifically, appliance analyzer 308 may be configuredto identify maintenance/repair issues based upon environmentalconditions in conjunction with operating parameters.

At 410, appliance analyzer 308 preferably identifies one or moremaintenance/repair issues with respect to appliances 330-338. Asnonlimiting examples, the maintenance/repair issue can be any one ormore of the following: a need for replacement of the appliance 330-338or a component thereof, a need for repair of the appliance 330-338 or acomponent thereof, a need for battery recharging, lifespan expired,lifespan below a predefined threshold, power inadequacy, applianceinoperability for intended purpose, inoperability of one or morefunctions (electrical and/or mechanical), network connectivity failure,and the like. For instance, appliance analyzer 308 may detectperformance degradation of an appliance (e.g., refrigerator 330) uponeither it's past operating performance efficiency and/or its operatingperformance falling outside of threshold values prescribed for it by amanufacturer. As another nonlimiting example, appliance analyzer 308 maydetect a dirty filter in another appliance (e.g., HVAC component 332)and/or may detect degradation in HVAC component 332 performance likelycontributable to a dirty filter element.

At 412, appliance analyzer 308 preferably determines whether accidentaldamage protection is needed with respect to appliances 330-338. Forexample, if appliance analyzer 308 determines that one or more of theappliances 330-338 is in need of replacement or repair due to accidentaldamage, appliance analyzer 308 may recommend a corresponding accidentaldamage protection insurance product. In a particular embodiment of theinvention, the accidental damage coverage may cover accidental damage tothe appliance 330-338 (such as damage caused by accidentally droppingappliance 330-338), and/or other loss of the appliance 330-338 (e.g.,loss of the appliance 330-338 through theft, fire, storm, burglary,natural disasters, or other peril). As another example, accidentaldamage protection may cover accidental discharge, leakage or overflow ofwater or steam from within a plumbing, heating or HVAC system 332,sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning or bulging of asteam or hot water heating system or of appliances for heating water,sudden and accidental damage from artificially generated currents toelectrical appliances, devices, fixtures and wiring. Accordingly, ifanalysis of the appliance informatics data detects, for example, leakageor overflow of water, appliance analyzer 308 may recommend accidentaldamage protection for one or more of the appliances 330-338 that may bedamaged by such leakage or overflow.

At 414, appliance analyzer 308 preferably determines whether extendedwarranty coverage is needed with respect to appliances 330-338. In anembodiment of the present invention, an extended warranty may be aninsurance product that can be purchased to cover the repair costs ofproduct support or repair services beyond the warranty provider'soriginal warranty period. An extended warranty may allow thepolicyholder to receive support and product repair services above andbeyond what is provided by a base warranty associated with appliances330-338. An extended warranty may take the form of a flexible durationextended warranty or a fixed duration extended warranty.

When offering flexible or fixed duration extended warranty coverage,appliance analyzer 308 may seek to charge a premium that both appeals topolicyholders and results in profit. For example, the appliance analyzer308 may offer a flexible extended warranty with a premium that isattractive to the policyholder because it can reduce expected supportcosts over the life of one or more appliances 330-338 covered by thewarranty. In an embodiment of the present invention, appliance analyzer308 may place restrictions on an extended warranty product. For example,a flexible duration extended warranty can come with a restriction suchthat if a policyholder purchases coverage, the coverage must be startedbefore the product reaches a pre-specified age. A flexible durationextended warranty can also come with a restriction such that theflexible extended warranty cannot be resumed once it is discontinued. Insome instances, appliance analyzer 308 may require that extendedcoverage begins at the end of a warranty originally provided with theappliances 330-338 (e.g., a base warranty).

Thus, at 414, appliance analyzer 308 may determine expected basewarranty expiration dates for the plurality of appliances 330-338, forexample, based on the age of the appliances 330-338, as determined instep 406 mentioned above. In response to determining that the currentdate is later than the expected warranty expiration date for aparticular appliance 330-338, appliance analyzer 308 may recommendcorresponding extended warranty coverage for that appliance 330-338.

At 416, appliance analyzer 308 preferably analyzes operating parametersof refrigerator 330 to determine whether a policyholder might beinterested in purchasing food spoilage protection insurance plan. Forinstance, appliance analyzer 308 may detect performance degradation ofrefrigerator 330 upon either it's past operating performance efficiencyand/or its operating performance falling outside of threshold valuesprescribed for it by a manufacturer. In response, appliance analyzer 308may recommend a food spoilage protection plan in addition to recommendedrepairs. A food spoilage protection product may take the form of aflexible duration. For instance, such plan may reimburse up to $300 perclaim on three-year plan and/or up to $500 per claim on five-year plansfor incurred spoilage losses. In an alternative embodiment, applianceanalyzer 308 may recommend food spoilage protection plan in response todetecting frequently occurring power outages.

At 418, policy analyzer 308 preferably automatically generates acomprehensive set of appliance insurance product recommendations basedon the analysis performed at steps 404-416. In an embodiment of thepresent invention, policy analyzer 308 may be configured to determine amultiple product discount value, which can apply to combinations ofmultiple insurance products and/or combinations of multiple appliances.

It is to be appreciated policy analyzer 308 may be further configuredand operational to electronically receive an insurance policy that isassociated with the insured property 300. Policy analyzer 308 thenanalyzes the received insurance policy for the insured property 300 todetermine if one or more appliances and/or systems located in theinsured property 300 are covered by the insurance policy. Analysis isthen performed on the received informatic data to determine one or moreinsurance products providing insurance coverage for one or moreappliances and/or systems located in the insured property 300, whichinsurance coverage is determined not to be provided by the analyzedinsurance policy for the insured property 300.

At 420, policy analyzer 308 preferably provides a notificationindicating suggested appliance insurance product recommendations. It isto be appreciated that policy analyzer 308 may be configured toelectronically deliver all notifications regarding recommended insuranceproducts or services. The notification can be anything that advises apolicyholder, device, or computer system of the suggested changes,including but not limited to, a display of text on a local displayscreen, a message in an email sent to a local or remote computer, a textmessage, a communication to a remote computer system. It is to be alsounderstood and appreciated that policy analyzer 308 may be configuredand operational to integrate with policy holder's communicativecomputing devices (e.g., smart phones (via an app), computers, tablets,smart TV's, vehicle communication systems, kitchen communicationsystems, etc.) for sending such notifications regarding insuranceproduct recommendations. In an embodiment of the present invention, eachnotification may include, but not limited to, a recommendation toperform insurance related repairs based on the determined repair needs,a recommendation of one or more vendors to perform insurance relatedrepairs based on the determined repair needs, additional insuranceproducts and services, and the like. Additionally, policy analyzer 308may save the aforementioned recommendations in the insurance server's106 storage component. These recommendations may then be automaticallycommunicated to the policyholder and/or reflected in the policyholder'snext insurance billing statement.

With certain illustrated embodiments described above, it is to beappreciated that various non-limiting embodiments described herein maybe used separately, combined or selectively combined for specificapplications. Further, some of the various features of the abovenon-limiting embodiments may be used without the corresponding use ofother described features. For example, although the techniques aredescribed above in the context of providing coverage for various items(such as personal property items), similar techniques may be used in thecontext of other types of property coverage or other types ofinsurance-related coverage. The foregoing description should thereforebe considered as merely illustrative of the principles, teachings andexemplary embodiments of this invention, and not in limitation thereof.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are onlyillustrative of the application of the principles of the illustratedembodiments. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may bedevised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope ofthe illustrated embodiments, and the appended claims are intended tocover such modifications and arrangements.

What we claim is:
 1. An electronic sensor system comprising: a pluralityof sensor devices located within one or more appliances and isconfigured to capture data related to electricity usage of the one ormore appliances, wherein the one or more appliances are located within aproperty, and wherein each sensor device of the plurality of sensordevices comprises a transmitter having an associated IP address toperiodically capture and transmit data in accordance with a data captureinterval value; a data storage in communication with each sensor deviceof the plurality of sensor devices via a respective IP address, whereinthe data storage is configured to aggregate the captured data related tothe one or more appliances located in the property received from eachsensor device of the plurality of sensor devices; a communication devicein communication with the data storage, wherein the communication deviceis configured to encrypt and transmit the aggregated captured data via acommunications network; a computer server in communication with thecommunication device via the communications network, the computer serverprogrammed to: receive encrypted aggregated captured data from thecommunication device regarding the electricity usage of the one or moreappliances located in the property; analyze the encrypted aggregatedcaptured data regarding the electricity usage of the one or moreappliances located in the property to determine an appliance maintenancestatus for at least one appliance of the one or more appliances, whereinthe appliance maintenance status is associated with at least oneoperating performance of the at least one appliance; determine one ormore repair needs for the at least one appliance based on the receivedencrypted aggregated captured data, wherein the one or more repair needsincludes one or more immediate repair needs, one or more preventivemaintenance needs, or both; determine at least one performancedegradation for the at least one appliance based on the appliancemaintenance status; upon determining that the at least one performancedegradation is above a performance degradation threshold, determine acoverage value for repairing or replacing the at least one appliancebased on a relationship between the at least one performance degradationand the performance degradation threshold; upon the coverage value forthe at least one appliance satisfying a second threshold, generate anelectronic message comprising an identification of the at least oneappliance, the appliance maintenance status, an insurance plan with thecoverage value, and a recommendation for one or more insurance productsrelated to an age value or the appliance maintenance status associatedwith the at least one appliance; and transmit the electronic message toan electronic device of a user associated with the property.
 2. Theelectronic sensor system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or moreappliances comprises one or more kitchen appliances, one or more HVACcomponents, a water purification system, a media entertainment system,one or more networking components, an electrical generator system, orany combination thereof.
 3. The electronic sensor system as recited inclaim 2, wherein the one or more kitchen appliances comprises arefrigerator, a freezer, a stove, a cooktop, an oven, a grill, adishwasher, or any combination thereof.
 4. The electronic sensor systemas recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more HVAC components comprisesan air conditioner, a heating system, an air handler, ahumidifier/de-humidifier, or any combination thereof.
 5. The electronicsensor system as recited in claim 1, wherein each appliance of the oneor more appliances comprises at least one sensor operative to sense atleast one ambient condition relevant to a functionality of a respectiveappliance of the one or more of appliances.
 6. The electronic sensorsystem as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more insurance productscomprise an accidental damage coverage product.
 7. The electronic sensorsystem as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more insurance productscomprise an extended warranty coverage product.
 8. A method comprising:generating, by a server, an instruction configured to command aplurality of sensor devices located within one or more appliances tocapture and transmit data corresponding to electricity usage of the oneor more appliances within a property, each sensor device of theplurality of sensor devices comprises a transmitter having an associatedIP address, wherein: each sensor device of the plurality of sensordevices is in communication with a data storage via a respective IPaddress, the data storage configured to aggregate the captured datarelated to the one or more appliances located in the property receivedfrom each sensor device of the plurality of sensor devices; the datastorage is in communication with a communication device, thecommunication device configured to encrypt and transmit the aggregatedcaptured data via a communications network; and the communication deviceis in communication with the server; receiving, by the server, theencrypted aggregated captured data from the communication deviceregarding the electricity usage of the one or more appliances located inthe property; analyzing, by the server, the encrypted aggregatedcaptured data regarding the electricity usage of the one or moreappliances located in the property to determine an appliance maintenancestatus for at least one appliance of the one or more appliances, whereinthe appliance maintenance status is associated with at least oneoperating performance of the at least one appliance; determining, by theserver, one or more repair needs for the at least one appliance basedupon the received encrypted aggregated captured data, wherein the one ormore repair needs includes one or more immediate repair needs, one ormore preventive maintenance needs, or both; determine at least oneperformance degradation for the at least one appliance based on theappliance maintenance status; upon determining that the at least oneperformance degradation is above a performance degradation threshold,determining, by the server, a coverage value for repairing or replacingthe at least one appliance based on a relationship between the at leastone performance degradation and the performance degradation threshold;upon the coverage value for the at least one appliance satisfying asecond threshold, generating, by the server, an electronic messagecomprising an identification of the at least one appliance, theappliance maintenance status, an insurance plan with the coverage value,and a recommendation for one or more insurance products related to anage value or the appliance maintenance status associated with the atleast one appliance; and transmitting, by the server, the electronicmessage to an electronic device of a user associated with the property.9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more appliancescomprises one or more kitchen appliances, one or more HVAC components, awater purification system, a media entertainment system, one or morenetworking components, an electrical generator system, or anycombination thereof.
 10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein theone or more kitchen appliances comprises a refrigerator, a freezer, astove, a cooktop, an oven, a grill, a dishwasher, or any combinationthereof.
 11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the one or moreHVAC components comprises an air conditioner, a heating system, an airhandler, a humidifier/de-humidifier, or any combination thereof.
 12. Themethod as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more insurance productscomprise an accidental damage coverage product.